Now That Information Is Free, What's a College Campus For?
The article explores the evolving role of physical university campuses in an era where information is digitally abundant. It highlights India's aggressive expansion of physical campuses as a counter-trend to the global shift toward remote learning.
Why it matters
It challenges the assumption that digital education will render physical institutions obsolete, suggesting that universities are shifting toward specialized, place-based training.
There is a strange contradiction unfolding in global education. As technology makes learning cheaper and increasingly detached from place, conventional wisdom says the physical university campus is becoming redundant. Knowledge is a few clicks away, and students can absorb a lecture, a course, or an entire degree’s worth of information from the comfort of their homes.
India is doing almost the opposite. It is building more universities, expanding campuses, and increasingly attracting some of the world’s leading institutions to establish a physical presence within its borders. The Universities of Southampton , Liverpool , Bristol , and York , in the U.K., alongside the University of New South Wales , in Australia, are among those setting up campuses in India, a market that already serves more than 43 million higher education students, with enrollment growing significantly over the past decade.
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